Bush grants funding to states for Real ID initiative

By Ed Oswald | Published February 22, 2008, 12:43 PM

President Bush has apparently acquiesced to Congress' and governors' demands to assist in funding the Real ID initiative, with the appropriation of an additional $110 million in grants to assist in the upgrade of driver's licenses.

The Real ID project is aimed at developing a better system for identification when used as a method to gain entrance to federal facilities. This is seen as a counter-terrorism measure since it will ostensibly make it harder to fool the system with forged IDs.

Under the statute, states must begin the transition process by December 31, 2009, and have it completed within four years. The budget request also includes $50 million to continue development of information sharing systems to make the Real ID effort more effective.

However before this, the Bush Administration has failed to provide much in the way of funding to assist in the transition, leaving states to foot much of the bill. Governors claim in the first five years, the states could collectively spend as much as $11 billion to re-enroll all 245 million licensed drivers, plus approximately $1 billion in start up costs.

So far, calls for financial assistance have gone unheeded. $50 million in grants were set aside for Real ID in December though an appropriations bill, but that still pales in comparison to what will actually be needed. The grants requested as part of the annual federal budget mark the first time that President Bush himself has acknowledged that existing federal funding for the program may have been inadequate.

It is not yet clear how this latest request will affect the overall effort, as Congress pushes back against the whole program. As reported in our previous coverage, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D - Hawaii) has already introduced a bill to repeal it altogether, which has gained support from both sides of the aisle.

Said Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) last March: "The flaws of Real ID are fundamental, and are slowly being realized by observers across the country," and that a single driver's license pattern could have the reverse affect, actually making it easier for counterfeiters to make copies of licenses.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

Nazi Germany SS officer to common citizen: Papers Please

Soviet Police to Anyone: Your papers are NOT in order

Score: 0

|

Be all you can be :) Be human. Be you. Let your light shine.

How about we not let the bad news discourage us. These strange times make us even stronger...

Houston Police Chief Wants Surveillance Cameras In Private Homes
http://www.prisonplanet..../160206privatehomes.htm

Terrorstorm
http://video.google.com/...ocid=786048453686176230

9/11 Martial Law
http://video.google.com/...id=-6495462761605341661

DON"T BE DISCOURAGED. Love to everyone.

Bobby

Score: 0

|

hi thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Score: 0

|

I never thought i'd say this, but we need liberals and leftists in power to undo all the damage the hypocritic Far Right + imbecillic Bush have wrought upon us.

With so many bright minds in this country, WHY do we wind up with Mickey Mice & Thiefs as the ONLY / FINAL choices to run this country election after election?

Score: 0

|

Because the general population is easily swayed by media and marketing. They won't do any fact-checking, and they don't care to hear the "other side" of the story.

Score: 0

|

The unfortunate truth, "we" get the government "we" deserve. I just wish I could get the government that I want.

Score: 0

|

You both are correct:

leading political pundits during the last couple of elections have ascribed as the single largest reason for just about all early incumbent candidates who have faltered:

lack of prowess with sound bites.

Score: 0

|

Forcing every citizen to carry identity documents does not secure buildings or aircraft. Metal detectors, armed federal marshals, rigorous security protocols, and cement barriers do that, not plastic cards.

I wish these politicians could stop lying to us and themselves for just a few minutes.

Score: 0

|

I have yet to see it stated anywhere that they are "forcing" this on anyone.

Score: 0

|

In a practical sense you're wrong-- the expected result is that eventually no real estate or insurance entity, no bank, no major/landmark building, no hospital/hotel/club/restaurant/casino/racetrack, no government facility, no major plane/train/bus transporter, no luxury retailer(maybe even no credit card purchase anywhere) will admit / conduct business to those without one... and the id's of non-complying states will be ostracized. The natural extension is that credit/smoking/drinking/gambling will not be able to be conducted without one-- either thru direct amending of enforcement laws and/or the severe penalties establishments will suffer when a minor or adult with dubious credentials slips through. Establishments, to protect themselves, will likely not only demand that ID only, but will want to swipe it and keep a record of that swipe in conjunction with video evidence-- in order to evade unpleasantries with regulators / authorities.

Soon, we will all have to carry that ID or a passport... and most of our movements(and secrets) will be on record somewhere-- whether in some government or public database... eventually all will get cross-linked.

Thank Bush & the Xenophobic Far Right for slowly turning us from usA to usSR.

Score: 0

|

Wow.

There's an awful lot of conspiracy nut gibberish in there. Nice job!

I especially love the laying of blame for "Big Brother" on the folks in the "Far Right". I mean, until now, I always thought True Conservatives stood for limited government...

Score: 0

|

"There's an awful lot of conspiracy nut gibberish in there. Nice job! "

While I agree he was laying it on a bit thick, I don't think we should ignore the possibility of what he was suggesting. No good ever came from ignoring worst case scenarios, and he wasn't even talking about the worst case scenario.

"I especially love the laying of blame for "Big Brother" on the folks in the "Far Right""

He was a bit off on that, both "sides" have aspects of citizen's private lives they would like to control.

"I mean, until now, I always thought True Conservatives stood for limited government..."

"True Conservatives", not sure if I have seen a whole lot of those in politics lately, have you?

Score: 0

|

Be careful you're talking with pc-tool and he lives up to his name as a tool.

-------

Besides all of the 9/11 terrorists had valid IDs. This won't stop them at all and only takes away more rights and freedoms from the average citizen.

The worse real enemy of the USA has always been those on the far right, like Bush and his ilk. Democracy was never actually what these Tories wanted. They wanted to replace the British king with their own king instead. The electorical(sp) college was a compromise to them. They use events like this to justify what they want to do to destroy America and its working.

Score: 0

|

Tool:

You mean true libertarians, not conservatives, in favor of limited government.

The rest of yous, even when in agreement, misunderstood me a bit-- i don't recall writing Big Brother.
What i meant is that we've become a country with Church Elder Laws annndddd no way for our sins to be forgotten, what with all the various databases with different info on us that can now get linked. As you know, nowadays there are very few private details that can't be accessed on the web, often for free-- there is no such thing as an unlisted phone number for example.

Try some of the following experiments on just for fun:

Try entering a federal building with any id besides passport/drivers license.

Try funding an online casino... or,

Try opening a bank account and:

1. 'mistakenly transpose one of the SSN digits'....OR:

2. Right after having gotten Social Security to issue you a new number due to credit fraud... OR:

3. Without having obtained a drivers license(maybe you're poor or live somewhere like NYC, where driving is a burden) OR

4. Not having bothered to renew such an expired license... OR

5. Right after a new license was issued to replace a stolen one

6. Ditto all that for passports...

The end result is the same: 'no bank will open an account for you'... they'll tell you that no such person exists and/or the expired ID is useless.

And please don't fall prey to a stolen wallet--

one is only entitled to '6 lifetime replacements of ones puny cardboard SSN card'... without it, no drivers license... without drivers license no ssn or passport... lovely catch 22...

Most important of all:

states that don't adhere to Real ID will result in their ID not being accepted & recognized by the feds & other states for flying, transactions, etc.
So, it just follows that private establishments quickly follow suit.

Both the Far Left and Right are ridiculous... but the latter have totally abused their latest stay in power: they want to rule through absurd & ridiculous fearmongering-- just like most our ignorant parents: don't play w/ yourself or you'll go blind... don't gamble, abstain from sex-- esp. with the same gender, tell us how much you have in the bank & don't spend your money on gambling or drugs...etc. ad nauseam--

fack Bush.

HOW/WHY do we wind up with a coke & alcohol abuser who went AWOL, almost failed college, and accomplished zilch in the corporate/business sector as our President?
But even worse, to have such a dweeb then try to righteously control so many details of our private lives?

Please!!!

SJC is right te valid ID's for others:

we don't solve the problem by refusing ID's to others, driving them and their money underground. Immigrants pay as much as 50K to get smuggled and set up here: let's let them come in openly & give them all id's & ssn's 'in exchange for higher fees + taxes & extensive checks + monitoring'... keep everyone in sight and subject to closer monitoring on demand-- rather than hidden away.

Allowing foreigners to quickly assimilate, contribute, & join our great society is much healthier than ostracizing and/or driving them to remain clustered & hidden away.

Score: 0

|

????????????????????????????????

Score: 0

|

??????????????????????????????????????????

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Score: 0

|

I love it when the friggin libs play the terrorist card and then try to play it off like *we* were the ones using that excuse.

Good job, puppet.

Score: 0

|

i don't recall writing Big Brother.

You didn't have to. The wild claims and absurd accusations were loud and clear on that.

Immigrants pay as much as 50K to get smuggled and set up here: let's let them come in openly & give them all id's & ssn's 'in exchange for higher fees + taxes & extensive checks + monitoring'... keep everyone in sight and subject to closer monitoring on demand-- rather than hidden away.

Not quite sure what field that came from, but for the most part, I actually agree.

Let them keep the money. Let them use it to set themselves up here, get a place to live, some ESL classes, and time to find a decent job. Simple plan, really. Make it sot hey must prove they either have a good job lined up, or 6 months worth of income so they'll have *time* to get themselves set up with a decent job and a place to live.

My stand on this is actually quite Canadian. Take a gander at their immigration requirements. Good stuff.

Score: 0

|

Central Americans/Illegal immigrants-
*before 1500AD
enslaved by witchdoctors
*1500-1990AD
enslaved by conquistadors
*1990-present
enslaved by global elite families who run the money and our minds.

There is much pleasure in healing old wounds. Let us arise, shine, and move forward.

Score: 0

|

Google Chrome 4: Yes, it's fast, but is it usable?

As Betanews readers have responded to our stories about Chrome's JavaScript superiority...Does that mean we'd actually use this browser? Well...

Video: Netflix on PlayStation 3

Netflix has come to the PlayStation 3 via Blu-ray and BD-Live.

Verizon Wireless launches new Android, Chocolate, and ruggedized phones

The lower-priced Eris joins the Droid, while the Chocolate gets a touchscreen and more music playback.

Early sales figures for Windows 7 nicely high, but do we know why?

Fans of triple-digit surges in figures quoted by Betanews will love this one, as it appears Microsoft rediscovered how to pull off a software launch.

Myka announces its latest Linux-based 'net top box'

Myka's ION brings Boxee, XMBC, and much more to HDTVs.

What hath Mac wrought? A remembrance after a quarter-century

The reason there's a Macintosh today is not because of some brilliant flash of engineering genius, but because Apple had the audacity to learn from its mistakes.

Early build of Moblin 2.1 improves connectivity, but not device support

The Linux Foundation's Atom-centric OS yesterday received a major overhaul with the project release of Moblin 2.1 for netbooks and nettops.

The iPhone's China syndrome: Sales of 5,000 and climbing

There's actually a country where Apple's device is not a godsend, where sales can be measured in the dozens.

New European counterpart to FCC will ensure 'a more neutral net'

Late Thursday night, the ruling telecom administrators of the EU's member nations signed away their final authority to a new entity overseen by the EC.

Sophos study suggests Windows 7 UAC's default setting is self-defeating

Without any anti-virus installed, a Sophos test showed, User Account Control was only capable of thwarting just one malware package out of ten samples chosen.

Indiscreet tweet trips awareness of Web SSL vulnerability

A group of high-level security engineers had been making progress on thwarting a low-level threat to the Web, until somebody blurted it all out on Twitter.